People were starting to gather in the cafeteria when he entered. He went in to the kitchen and asked for a signal two minutes before they were going to bring food out. He spent the rest of the waiting time testing out sentences in his head. This was not the place for a long rambling lecture. But it also needed to be more than a couple of cliches. He made sure his seat was close to a wall so that nobody would have to look at his back while he talked.

Terry came in with her parents. She made a beeline for Karl's table and they followed. Terry eyed him, then winked at him and mouthed, “You got this.” A minute later, Patty stuck her nose out, made eye contact with him, nodded, and disappeared. Before he could second guess himself, Karl raised his voice.

“Everyone, could I have your attention please! Dinner will be served in a couple of minutes, and I'd like to say a few words before we dig in.

“My name is Karl Hausman. I'm a seventh level paladin, and I started this whole thing rolling when I met Terry Williams right here. We met the Hoopers, and then the Cooks, then Jim, Maria, Annie and the twins, and then it all sort of started to snowball from there. It was Michael Cook's idea to use the old mill that was here as a source of enough metal to build. Through the hard work of many people, we have created this Safe Zone, Endurance.

“Folks, we've finally got a fighting chance. We can defend this place, gather resources and expand it, gather more survivors and grow it, and make Endurance a home to be proud of. But I think the first thing we need to do, is talk to each other. So after dinner, I propose that we share our stories, bring each other up to speed, and learn about each other: what we know, what we can do, and how we can cooperate. We'll do a little bit of organizing too.

“And so, since I am a paladin, I'd like to say grace now if people will indulge an old man. No fancy words, and no exclusion of anyone. Simply this: God—and System—please help us to survive, and to thrive in this wild new world. We are grateful for this respite, for the food that we have, and for the chance to do more and be more than we were before. Help us to help ourselves, and may we all enjoy every single precious day that we live. Amen.”

There was a general murmur of approval, and then with perfect timing Patty came out with a big pot. Laura and Ryan brought out loaves of bread and bowls. Patty raised her voice. “All right, come on up, we've got regular stew and vegetarian, bread to go with, and enough little cookies for everyone to have two.”

Karl and Terry joined the line right away. Getting his stew, he noticed that the bowls seemed to come from several different sets. “Where did you get the dishes?” he asked curiously.

“We went out with a team this afternoon,” Patty explained. “We raided the kitchens of the first dozen houses or so to get silverware and things, and to gather the food. The kitchen was built for us, but it didn't come with all the fixings.”

Karl nodded. “I'm glad you thought of it. Thank you.”

The stew was actually pretty decent. Karl finished his quickly and wanted more, but held off. He waited until several people had finished, and just about everyone had been served. Then he stood up.

“Folks, go ahead and keep on eating, but I wanted to get the ball rolling. Before we start with the introductions, I have some requests of specific people. There's a lot to do, and we need to get organized. Please bear in mind that these can be just temporary assignments, but we need to have a few people in charge of some things. There's no way I can keep track of it all.

“First, we need someone in charge of defense of Endurance. We've got walls now, but there are still dangers out there and some might be strong enough to attack, so we have to be ready. Paul Goodman, would you take on that role just for the time being?”

“Yes, Sir Karl.” To the group, Paul said, “I'll need some people keeping watch on the walls, so come see me later if you want to volunteer. You don't have to have a combat class, either. We just need eyes.”

“Next, Jake Cook, will you continue to be Quartermaster for the time being?”

“Yes, Sir Karl.”

“Maria Sanchez, would you please serve as Treasurer? There's not a lot to do yet there but it will get important quickly.”

“I will, thank you.”

“We need someone to organize our information and communications. Will anyone volunteer?”

There was a pause for a few seconds. Then George stood up. “I'm George Ritter, and I'll do the job until we find someone better.”

“Thanks for stepping up, George.” George nodded and sat down. “And finally, we need someone to organize people and jobs, track work that needs doing, schedules and the like. Would anyone like that role?”

A woman cleared her throat and hesitantly stood up. “I'm Sarah Jackson, and I'd be willing to do that.”

“Thank you, Sarah.” Karl smiled at her, then looked at the audience. “If you're looking for work, talk to Sarah and see what jobs she has for you.

“Okay, that's a very broad beginning. We'll need people for more specific things, like the pantry and cooking, but those people can talk to Jake or Sarah. People who want to go out hunting or scouting talk to Paul or myself, and so forth.”

“Just a moment!” Karl suppressed a sigh as Ms. Taggart spoke up. “Who put you in charge?” A few people groaned. Karl had half expected this, though, so he managed to keep a neutral expression.

“I volunteered.”

“Why should we do what you say?” Karl could hear some muttering and grumbling, but it seemed to be directed at Ms. Taggart, not him.

Karl took a deep breath. “Well, for several reasons. First, I got this all started, gathering people and organizing. Second, I'm the most powerful fighter here. Third, it was my monster core loot that was used as the power source to construct the Safe Zone. Fourth, I have a paladin skill for detecting falsehoods, so I have a better chance of picking good people and knowing who to trust. Fifth, we need someone in charge temporarily because we are still in a life-and-death struggle and will be for some time. Sixth, nobody else has asked for the job. I'll be happy to stand for election but frankly I'd rather have the immediate area cleared of monsters and a week's supply of food laid in first. And finally, I'm trying to save you and as many other people as possible, and if we're going to succeed we had better learn to work together. Does that answer your question?”

Terry started clapping, and quite a few people joined in, some very enthusiastically. Ms. Taggart looked around and read the room, then gave a terse nod and sat down.

“Thank you for the support everyone. I'll keep doing my best for you. Now, there are a lot of us, and if we each took five minutes we'd be here all night. So I figure we can each say a few words, say half a minute or a minute, just to introduce yourselves. Let's go by levels, I'm sure everyone is curious how powerful we are as a group.”

“You start, Sir Karl, and I'll go next,” Terry said loudly.

“All right. Just checking, is anyone here higher level than seventh?” There was the expected silence. “Okay. So I'm Karl--”

“Sir Karl!” Terry corrected loudly.

“—My PR department here tells me I'm 'Sir' Karl.” He jerked a thumb at Terry while rolling his eyes a little. “Anyway, I lived at 84 Sycamore Street. I'm a retired professor of linguistics. I'm now a paladin, so I have a little bit of healing, but mostly I fight with weapon and shield. I guess I already talked plenty about myself a minute ago, so that's it for me. Terry?”

“Hi everybody! I'm Terry Williams, super scout. I was the first person Karl rescued, so we've been leveling up like mad for three days. I'm fourteen and I was a freshman cheerleader at Stonehill High. My hobbies include sticking daggers into the backs of monsters and seeing how high I can crank up my Agility score. Anybody else seventh level? No? Okay, who's sixth level?”

Chenelle raised her hand, as did Michael. Seeing no one else, Chenelle gestured to Michael to go first. He scowled, but then stood up. “I'm Michael Cook, sixth level archer. My son is Jake, the quartermaster. I...uh...I guess that's all for me.” He sat back down.

Chenelle stood up next. “I'm Chenelle Hooper, sixth level healer. I, my husband Doug and our son Danny were the first people to join Sir Karl and Terry on this adventure. My hobbies include keeping everyone alive, teasing Sir Karl, and being very proud of my little Spawn Defender. Okay, I guess fifth level people are next?” She sat down.

Barbara Williams stood up. “I'm Barbara Williams, Terry's mother. We got stranded while out on an errand when the System hit. It took her father and I a few days to fight our way back home and find Terry. We're incredibly grateful to Sir Karl for taking care of our daughter while we were separated, and for saving our lives when we first arrived. I'm a...uh...fifth level fighter class.”

“Mom's Barbara the Barbarian!”

“That's enough out of you, young lady!”

“They have to find out sometime, Mom.”

“Who's next?” Barbara snapped. There were a few quiet titters that faded away under the woman's glare.

Jo and Tabitha stood up, and Barbara sat down. Jo spoke up. “Hey everybody! I'm Jo Brooks, this is Tabitha Addams. We're a team. I'm a fifth level Protector and she's a fifth level Pyromancer.”

“Go Hordeslayers!” Valerie shouted out.

Some people looked puzzled. Jo explained, “Tabitha and I got the System title Hordeslayer for burning up a lot of gremlins that were attacking Valerie's house. Now gremlins automatically run away from us, so if you have a gremlin problem, we're the ones to call. I lived on Sycamore Street, and we came with Letisha and Clarissa and followed the signs to Safe Zone #1 yesterday morning. We've been on Karl's A Team since then.” Tabitha gave a little wave and they both sat down.

Doug stood up. “I think I'm the only other fifth level? I guess I'll go next. I'm Doug Hooper, Chenelle's husband and Danny's father. Fifth level warrior. Since we're talking about titles, my brave little boy here got the System title Spawn Defender, which is I guess what the System calls a little kid who saves the lives of other kids. I got awarded the title Hero today when we brought enough people safely here. I'm curious who else got it?”

“Shit! I forgot to brag about it!” Terry groused loudly. She raised her hand and looked pointedly at Karl, who sighed and did the same, as did Jo, Tabitha, Michael, Chenelle, and Christine. Terry looked across the room. “Jake?”

Jake shook his head. “Nope. That's what I get for holding down the fort while you guys go off adventuring. That's okay, Tinker isn't supposed to be a combat class anyway. I'm happy enough at fourth level for now.”

There was one other fifth level warrior, Clyde, who wasn't present but had been in the group with Terry's parents. They continued in that vein for a while. There were about a dozen people at fourth level, including Jake, Christine Asher the Ranger, Terry's father Murray Williams the Druid, Debbie Schultz the Warrior, Letisha Jones the “Rogue class”, George Ritter the “scout”, and Valerie Mills the Druid. Karl started losing track with third level, which was a lot of names of which he only recognized Chad and Paul Goodman, warrior and mage; Alain, the mage; Madeleine the Carpenter; and Laura the Cook stuck out because Patty had to physically shove her forward.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The descriptions got shorter, and instead people started describing their first kill, or the situation they first found themselves in, or what they had done for a living before the System. When they had finally gotten to everybody, the overall counts weren't as bad as Karl had feared; just over half of people had a class, and a handful of the unclassed had a second level and so were less fragile than they would otherwise be.

A chaotic hour or so ensued. Karl was inundated with suggestions, requests, and demands. So were all the people he'd delegated to. When it became clear that the questions weren't going to let up no matter how little information he had, he stood up and clapped his hands together.

“Okay, all department heads, wrap up your current discussions. We need to compare notes. Meeting upstairs in fifteen minutes.” Jake gave him a fervently grateful look. Others nodded to him. To the people around him, Karl said in a lower tone,“Thank you all for your input, you've given me a ton to think about, and I want to help everyone grow here. If one of you could form a suggestion box, people with ideas can write them down so I don't forget. Please label them clearly as essentials, requests, short term suggestions, long term suggestions, or information that I need. I'll be by to collect them all after the meeting. Thank you.”

Karl wasn't sure how long it had been before they all assembled in one office and closed the door. I need to remember the System has a clock. They sat at the table: Paul, Jake, Maria, George, and Sarah, clockwise in the order he'd named them. “All right, thank you all for coming. Let's hear summaries from everyone and then talk strategy.” He turned to Paul. “Let's start with the absolute highest priority. Where are we on defense?”

Paul smiled at that, nodded, and looked at his notes. “We have thirty-six combat effectives level three or above. We have the wall to guard. The guardian will help, but we shouldn't completely rely on it. Besides, we need information on nearby enemies. I've set up some preliminary watches, so that there are always two people on the wall. I'm accepting people without classes as one, but the other must be a combat classer. I consider that the absolute minimum for security. We have a good setup here, and that makes us a target. I have a list of immediate purchase requests for Jake, prioritized. I understand if we can't get all of it, but get me what you can please.” He handed Jake a piece of paper.

“Thank you Paul. Second priority, food. Jake, where do we stand?”

Jake was grim. “We have two days' worth of meals left at most.”

“What?” Sarah exclaimed.

“We have a hundred people! Many of them had nothing at all in inventory when they were rescued. Also, it looks as if all the combat classers who have been boosting their Strength and Constitution attributes need at least twice as much food as normal. I urgently recommend we loot every grocery store in range, as quickly as possible. As survivors find us, this is only going to get worse.”

“Agreed. What about hunting? Paul?”

“We can certainly spare some people for escort duty for those gathering. Hunting for food animals will be harder. Somebody killed a seven foot squirrel today, but they're not all going to waltz up and present meaty haunches for us. I think we've only got one outright Ranger. Oh yes, I also want to train the unclassed with bow, so we can get archers for the walls. Obviously I would prefer rifles, since people have a lot of them around here, but apparently they don't work right any more.”

“Good idea Paul, but let's focus on the information we need to plan for tomorrow's operations.”

“Apologies, Sir.”

“Talk to me about rifles after,” Jake muttered quickly to Paul. Paul's eyebrows went up.

“Form up tentative lists of combat classers to escort the gatherers tomorrow. I know it won't be solid but it will give you something to work from once you know more.”

“Already on it, Sir.”

“Thank you. Maria.” Karl turned to her next. “I don't know if you have anything to report yet.”

“I have been searching for help on banking in the System. I can't report on our treasury until we have one, so we need an account. I offer to take on the duties of holding funds until the account can be created. I do have one request. I'd like to know how much cash we in this room have, individually.” When everyone mentioned their meager totals, Maria paused for a moment. “So we have approximately sixteen silver among us here, and very likely not more than another five or ten silver in the rest of the Safe Zone.”

“Maria,” Jake spoke up. “Would you like to take over auction house duties?”

“I can. My plate is empty and yours is full.”

“Great, thanks. I'm trying to auction at least one valuable item every day, that if it sells can get us a gold or more. I don't know how many times that trick will work, but I figure we should use it while we can. I'll show you how they work after.”

“That concludes my report, Sir Karl,” Maria said primly. Karl smiled.

“Thank you for your initiative, Maria. Okay, George. What have you got?”

George shifted nervously in his seat. “Okay, please understand that I'm winging it here—”

“We all are,” Karl cut in to reassure him. “Just give us what you've got.”

“Okay. Um, so, some people helped me brainstorm. Under information, we've got the Safe Zone, the System in general, personnel, scouting monsters and any other enemies, finding allies, news of the wider world, and learning more about the aliens. Those mostly all call for different skills. There's a girl Cindy who's too young for a class but is very eager to research the System for us. I told her to write me a report of what she's found so far, and then one on what she finds tomorrow. I'm pretty sure this kid will be pulling her own weight and then some. On the other end there's a couple of people thinking that they can contribute to the Zone by sitting around watching alien TV all day, and want funds for subscriptions.”

Karl mused on that for a moment. Before he could think of anything, Sarah piped up, “Make sure to bill it as contract work. Pay them by the job, for results, so they don't slack off.”

“As soon as I'm paying them anything, I'll do that.”

“Try cash prizes,” Sarah added, then glanced at Karl apologetically and shut up.

George continued. “Now as for scouting enemies, we only have Terry, Letisha, myself, Jim, and Christine. I thought it might be a good idea to have one of us do circles around Endurance each day and look for threats. I think the five of us are going to be stretched pretty thin though, since parties going out will probably want scouts with them. I also want to map the area.”

Karl frowned. “I think you need one of those pads like Jake has, first thing. Find out what System magic tech will hand you on a platter first. Maps, for example. For all I know, the Safe Zone comes with built in sensors and we just forgot to turn them on!”

Jake shook his head with a smile...then froze. Karl noticed at once and held up a hand to still other conversation.

“Jake?”

“Sensors.” Jake bit his lip. “I might be able to get us something on the cheap, if the Shop will sell it to me...It probably won't, but I might be able to Tinker a cheat using the things it will sell me...” He trailed off, thinking.

“That would be freaking awesome,” George breathed.

“Agreed,” Paul said.

Karl bared his teeth in a grin. “Figure out what you can do and what you need, Jake, and let me know. I think that might go near the top of the queue.” He sat back and gathered his thoughts. “George. Any ideas on getting news of the wider world?”

George shook his head. “Radios are kaput. Maybe if there's a System version that would let us talk between Safe Zones?”

Jake blinked and shook his head. “I don't think that works with our allowed options. The System is offering us the chance to build medieval things like a smithy or tannery or a barracks—”

“Want one,” Paul piped up immediately. “Of each.”

Jake nodded and continued, “and I haven't found anything like higher technology except for things the System calls 'convenience items'. It obviously can do high tech but it won't let us do it.”

Karl nodded. “Find out what information you can simply buy, George. We'll get you a budget eventually. News about Earth specifically is a priority. I also want to know what the galaxy thinks of us. Who knows? Maybe we can find allies out there. And anything we can find out about other humans surviving could be a real boost to morale.”

He looked at the ceiling a moment to order his thoughts. “Right. Sarah next, then I need to circle back around to Jake and pick his brain about expanding the Safe Zone. Sarah?”

“I've got a lot going on, but it's not very organized yet. I have a mostly complete census, and we seem to be just shy of a hundred people. Not counting the high level combat class people level three and above, and also not counting the nine children, that leaves us with around fifty-five people. Three are volunteering to cook. Three are volunteering to take care of the children. Maria and I don't have classes and we apparently have these jobs now. I've got about twenty more people who gave me their names because they want work, and another ten who want combat class training. That leaves about a dozen people, but this is just from the initial talk downstairs.

“Now it sounds like we need people who don't necessarily have a class, both to carry food and to keep watch on the walls. I can give you lists of volunteers for both. Sir Karl, will you be taking charge of the traveling parties?”

Karl paused, then nodded.

“Good, Sir,” Paul spoke up. “If I'm stuck on defense, I'd rather you be on offense for the Zone.” He stiffened. “Actually, Sir, there's one other very important matter we have to address.”

Karl raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”

“Succession. What happens if you die out there? Does the Safe Zone collapse? Does it get inherited by someone else? We need to know, and the System needs to know, so there's always an unbroken chain of command and of ownership.”

Karl took a deep breath. He hadn't even considered that. “Jake? Can we set that up?”

“I...think so? Give me a few minutes to check, unless you need an answer right this minute. Best guess, if Karl dies it goes to either me or Letisha because we were authorized at the build table. I don't know which. And I don't know what happens if all three of us die.”

“All right. Do that first after the meeting. Above all else, Endurance must not fall. As for the order of succession of leadership...I think my preference is myself, then Jake, then Paul, then...Chenelle. Actually put Chenelle right after Jake, then Paul. That's not a slight, Paul.”

“You want me leading the defense, rather than the whole show, even if top people start dying.”

“Especially then. We can't let our tiny military get disrupted if things go seriously sideways. I trust you that much with our defense.”

Paul bowed his head a moment, then looked up, smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Sir.”

“All right.” Karl deliberately straightened up. This meeting had already run long from his perspective, but it was probably illusory, like combat. A lot of important things were being discussed. “Last two items. The Safe Zone, and then our plan for tomorrow.”

“What do you need to know, Sir Karl?” Jake asked.

“What do we need to expand?”

“Eleven hundred units of metal.”

“Cost?”

“Fifty-five gold, more unless we manage to get the same deal for all of it. I'm not sure how big the market is for it and whether we'd shift it.”

“Or maybe we could get a bulk discount instead. Come to think of it, where are the sellers getting those units from?”

Jake lifted his head. “That is a very good question, Sir Karl. I'll see what I can find out.”

“All right. Assume we somehow get the metal. What else do we need?”

“We've got the stone and wood just lying around. The power core you provided can handle a few expansions, I think. I'll have to check how many. We also need to clear the area we want to expand into—remove all the monsters.”

“How big an area?”

“Probably the same size it already is; we'd double, from about five acres to ten.” Karl and Paul looked at each other and shrugged.

“That part won't be a problem. What is a problem is that we need to build more housing and soon. We're already three to a room and I expect more people to find us.” Karl frowned. “We're bleeding money to advance. We need to be able to bootstrap. Can we get any income? Can we produce our own metal or food? I don't want this meeting to run long, just something for everyone to think about.

“All right, last item: plans for tomorrow. From what I understand, we need to send out multiple teams to hit different grocery stores. We'll do that early. This time, we load up and hurry right back. It was frustrating yesterday working with no spare inventory space. If people come out and join on the way, fine, but people who are stuck in their homes will probably be okay for one more day, so don't launch rescues unless it is urgent. We will do more rescues later, but we must have food. Once we have enough food we'll probably need to loot houses for valuables that could auction well, but we'll see what the first food runs net us.

“Paul, tomorrow start training those who want to level, as soon as you can organize it. The stronger we are, the more we can do. George, sic somebody on researching the metal problem too. Sarah, keep doing what you're doing. Likewise, Maria. Jake, you've proven yourself good at keeping the home fires burning. While you're at it, plan the expansion and give me options. Get Letisha to help you.”

Karl looked around the room and drove a finger against the table for emphasis. “Know this: we will expand. If all else fails we will amass fifty gold, even if I have to go out and loot it myself. We are not giving up on the rest of humanity. Not on my watch.”

Everyone at the table was looking at him with smiles and confidence. After a moment, he felt himself smiling back. We can do this.